The Fundação Arte e Cultura (FAC) – a philanthropic institution of the Menomadin Foundation, and the Social Responsibility arm of the Mitrelli Group, in Angola – together with the Ministry of Culture have just launched the project to implement the e-Zomba Digital Cultural Collection, with a view to promoting and making available Angolan culture at national and global level.
The project was launched the 29th of March, at an event that took place at the premises of the Fundação Arte e Cultura, on the island of Luanda.
«Preservation of the past, accessibility in the present and promotion of research in the future» is the aim of e-Zomba, a project adapted to today’s advanced technology, which will not only expose Angolan culture to the whole world, but also make ancestral and new cultures accessible to the general public.
The creation of the e-Zomba Digital Cultural Collection was born under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture as the supervisory body, in partnership with the Fundação Arte e Cultura.
“This exceptional project is intended to draw attention and encourage exposure and interaction between researchers, students, historians, musicians, artists and the general public, as well as showing how wonderful the art and culture of this country really are, colorful and interesting”, explains Haim Taib, Founder and President of the Menomadin Foundation, an international impact fund, established after 30 years of experience in the development and strengthening of African countries.
Belonging to the Menomadin Foundation, in addition to promoting and disseminating Angolan art and culture, the Arte e Cultura Foundation is dedicated to the social inclusion of children, adolescents, young people and women in vulnerable situations, through the arts.
An example of FAC’s impact at this level is the Galeria Tamar Golan, launched in 2012, which has already welcomed more than 120 artists, of which around 70% are still pursuing their artistic careers. The space, visited by more than 8,500 people, has already hosted more than 90 exhibitions and 40 art workshops. More than one thousand six hundred children participated in these activities.
“Imagine the exposure and opportunities e-Zomba is destined to give to all these talented Angolan artists, and how it is destined to enrich the world. The e-Zomba archive will guarantee the most complete documentation and accessibility, which will allow to take the exhibition to a broad and diversified public at national and international level”, highlights Haim Taib.
In e-Zomba it will be possible to find different music collections from all eras, art collections, records of folk dances of all kinds that characterize Angola, records of plays and theater shows.
“This project, developed by Fundação Arte e Cultura, interacts with aspects of our culture, with the rescue of our values. This has always been a concern that we had, because when we talk about rescue we talk about identity. We are preserving something in the sense of cultural belonging of a country that is multicultural, however it is in diversity that we will find learning for our unity, respect between tradition and modernity, and respect between ancestry and future vision”, says the Minister of Culture, Filipe Silvino de Pina Zau.
For Naama Margalit, director general of FAC, e-Zomba is the opportunity to “digitally preserve the cultural treasures” of Angola, “for the benefit of the next generation”, as well as “preserving the honor of creators and giving an opportunity for the the whole world to enjoy this rich culture”.
